Cameron's "Xenogenesis" provided so much detail for Pandora, down to its "translucent stalks" and pastel colors that pop out at night.

"Just as in Avatar, Xenogenesis’s Luminous Planet comes alive at night. As the Xenogenesis script describes: “The planet’s sunlit side seems Earthlike, but the night side glows softly with reticulated radiance of pastels of blue and green.”

The blue Na'vi people are inspired from a painting Cameron did for the film.

"In or about 1979, I did a large painting which shows a tall, thin woman with blue skin, who is wearing skin-tight purple pants … These tall, slender, blue-skinned, and genetically engineered characters became the basis for the appearance of the indigenous people, the Na’vi, and the genetically engineered avatars in 'Avatar.'"

The giant willow tree referred to as "Tree of Souls" in "Avatar" appeared in the script.

"Xenogenesis’s Luminous Planet has a unique sort of willow tree, which is described in the script as “a glorious hybrid of a fiber optics lamp, a sea anemone and a willow; a fountain of gossamer tendrils swing from each delicate stalk.”

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The fact that the plants in "Avatar" are all-knowing.

"In Xenogenesis, the Luminous Planet itself is sentient – i.e., it can sense and react to others – like Pandora in Avatar. In Xenogenesis, the Luminous Planet reacts to the arrival of the main characters and seeks to trap them and keep them on the planet by lulling them into a state of bliss, like the “Lotus Eaters” of Homer’s epic The Odyssey."

The "purple dire-horses" in "Avatar"? Yes, those were also in the "Xenogenesis" script.

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"Chrysalis":

The idea for Jake Scully originated from the early film concept which also dealt with a disabled, wheelchair-bound man, going through a transcendent journey.

"In or about 1973, I wrote a story called Absense for a college project, which was developed in 1974 into a short film script entitled Chrysalis … The script describes a cosmic journey of self-discovery and transcendence taken by a wheelchair-bound man who elects to surgically remove all external sensory input, so that he can journey through his own mind. In this mental journey, the man is able to stand and finds himself in an alien landscape and a forest full of giant trees."

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"Mother":

The idea of a company setting up mines on another planet they plan to exploit.

"I used this same scenario in Avatar: The international consortium called the Resources Development Administration (RDA) sets up mines on Pandora, a moon that orbits an extrasolar planet, whose atmosphere is toxic to humans."

Cameron's idea for creating a duplicate of an alien life form on another planet (aka an "Avatar") was first seen here.

"Because the planet’s environment is dangerous to humans, a “xenomorph,” my term for a genetically engineered alien creature, is created based on a local life form in order to serve the needs of the Company. As my notes for Mother show, I conceived the idea that these genetically engineered aliens could be used as workers in the mines."

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The psychic link to control the Avatars:

"As stated in my notes for Mother, these xenomorphs are controlled via a '“psychic link w/ an ‘adept’ or an 'electronic link w/ a trained controller.' In Avatar, I combined these two ideas to create the technology called “psionic link,” which encompasses both the natural mental power of the individual to link with his genetically matched avatar and the idea of technology used to focus and project that connection over great distances."

"Wind Warriors" elements included in "Avatar":

Villains searching for a rare metal who were willing to destroy whoever and whatever (the natives and their jungle) to obtain it.

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Natives fighting with simple weapons as opposed to the powerful machinery of the military.

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The air battle that takes place over the jungle.20th Century Fox

Despite all of this, near the end of his declaration, Cameron acknowledges references to outside films and stories including "FernGully" and the story of Pocahontas among others ("Medicine Man," "The Jungle Book," and the sci-fi novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs).

On page 20, Cameron full out tells us "Avatar" is essentially his own retelling of "Pocahontas":

"Avatar is a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period. Avatar very pointedly made reference to the colonial period in the Americas, with all its conflict and bloodshed between the military aggressors from Europe and the indigenous peoples. Europe equals Earth. The native Americans are the Na’vi. It’s not meant to be subtle."

Since Cameron wrote his first treatment for "Avatar" in 1995 – the same year "Pocahontas" debuted, and three years after "FernGully" was released – we imagine he began to see his ideas coming to fruition on the big screen and he needed to finally put them to work.